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The next day, Mr. Armstrong, 37, summed up the tone of what he had heard. “There was just this outburst of type, why doesn’t the company give my back?” he said at a staff meeting, according to a session recording shared with the New York Times. In a corporate email sent later, which was also shared with The Times, she agreed to renew the diversity and inclusion plan and increase mentoring.
But in September, Mr. Armstrong posted a public blog post telling employees to leave concerns over issues like racial justice at the gates. He said that as the company embraced diversity, staff needed to focus on Coinbase’s profit mission and advancement of cryptocurrencies. They should step down if they don’t agree, he said.
“We do not engage here when matters are unrelated to our core mission,” wrote Mr. Armstrong.
The post suffered immediate backlash from employees. “Why stay and engage in this work if it is only symbolized to recruit points and not actually improve the sense of belonging and psychological security,” wrote Lauren Lee, head of diversity and inclusion, in a message from Slack that was seen from The Volte.
Ms. Lee, who did not respond to requests for comment, resigned last month. So you have at least 60 more.
The “right brain”
Mr. Armstrong, a former Airbnb engineer, and Fred Ehrsam, a former Goldman Sachs trader, founded Coinbase eight years ago to provide a place to buy and sell cryptocurrencies. They turned the start-up into a cryptocurrency leader, earning money by taking commissions on transactions made by its clients. (Mr. Ehrsam left daily operations in 2017.)
Today, Coinbase is riding a new wave of interest in cryptocurrencies, with the value of the virtual currency Bitcoin approaching a new high as investors increasingly treat it as an alternative to gold.
Much of Coinbase’s culture stems from that around Bitcoin, current and former employees said. Bitcoin, which embodies a libertarian philosophy that snubs its nose at the devotions of traditional institutions, has attracted a generation of fans known as “crypto bros”. Many have propagated a cheeky male-dominated lifestyle, facing criticism for sowing racism and sexism.
